Saturday, December 03, 2005

It is now clear that the "detainees" , "rendered prisoners" were provided with US Diplomatic Passports starting series No 600 - , so notionally they were agents of the US State - i.e to legal eagles like Albert Gonzalez and Libby's successor, Addington. These un-uniformed people often had no documentation - so the CIA simply provided them with some along the lines of the Nansen certificates of the Displaced peoples (DP's) in Europe durting and after WWII.

MR. MCCORMACK: Again, Glenn, all U.S. actions comply with U.S. laws. They comply with the United States Constitution and they comply with our international obligations. I'm not a lawyer. I can't tell you exactly what European laws are and how they mesh up with U.S. laws. I can only tell you that U.S. actions comply with U.S. laws. We don't ask our U.S. Government officials to do things that are illegal. They comply with the Constitution and they are consistent with our international obligations.

It is this wonderful legal charade that has enabled the US State Department to say with straight face and a lightly beating heart, that nobody's "rights" were affected.

Thus everybody on a flight over, in , out of any territory was on a diplomatic laissez passer.

Friday, December 02, 2005

I wrote about crash testing the Boeing A160 Hummingbird UAV previously. Now Gary Gallagher , program manager,(who took over from Steve Glusman) tells me that on Wednesday they tested the new version with a six cylinder Subaru petrol engine (upgraded from the old 4 cylinder engine on previous models that crashed) at Victorville CA.

The new A160 successfully flew for "about" 30 minutes in the vicinity of the air field, bringing the total number of A160 test flights to 32 and the total number of flight hours to 58 – and this one didn’t crash.

The Hummingbird says Gary features a unique optimum speed rotor technology that significantly improves overall performance efficiency by adjusting the RPM of the rotor system at different altitudes, gross weights and cruise speeds. It is designed to fly autonomously, for long periods of time (24 hours +), over greater distances (2,500+ nautical miles), at higher altitudes (up to 30,000 feet), and much more quietly than current helicopters. Meanwhile they just dawdle around Victorville.Cool.

Gary is excited about the re-engined A160 and says it “could” provide reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, communication relay and precision re-supply. Its unique characteristics (i.e it doesn’t crash …yet), would allow it to effectively address current and emerging requirements of the U.S. armed forces, Department of Homeland Security, and international military and security organizations.

Boeing Phantom Works are developing the A160 Hummingbird under contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Phantom Works currently is under contract for eight A160 UAVs for DARPA and ten for Naval Air Systems Command.

So lots of taxpayers dollars there for an aircraft that hasn’t crashed … yet.

Matt Cutts, a software engineer at Google since January 2000, used to work for the National Security Agency.

Keyhole, the satellite imaging company that Google acquired in October 2004, was funded by the CIA.

"We are moving to a Google that knows more about you." — Google CEO Eric Schmidt, February 9, 2005

Since 2000, Google has recorded your search terms, the date-time of each search, the globally-unique ID in your cookie (it expires in 2038), and your IP address. This information is available to governments on request. If your favorite site features a Google search box, ask them to install their own local site search. They could also use our site search for webmasters, which shows the same results without the tracking.

Wikipedia says .....

Scroogle is a screen-scraping proxy for the Google search engine that circumvents Google's tracking of user activity via cookies. The site also allows users to perform Google searches without receiving Google advertisements. A Yahoo scraper is included. There is support for 28 languages, and Mozilla offers a Scroogle plugin for the Firefox search bar. Scroogle is operated by Google critic Daniel Brandt, who is known for his Google Watch web site.

The cartoons and comments found in scroogle pages suggest that Brandt believes that aspects of Google's operations might have more sinister elements than the average user expects. As of October 2005, Scroogle was handling 15,000 searches per day. The source code for the scraper, written in 'C' for compilation on a Linux box, is available on the site.

3/12 Not much blog comment but this is interesting here from Rivertribe.

You might also want to take a look here at www.gmail is too creepy.com

General Motors (still) the world's largest automaker, saw 11% decline in November U.S. sales while Ford Motor Co said sales fell 18 percent. Both saw catastrophic declines in SUV sales. DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group said U.S. November sales fell 7 percent, ending 19 consecutive months of year-over-year gains.

Meanwhile Asian constructors hit a record 40% of the US market in October, and Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. claimed sales gains for November of 5.6 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. said its U.S. sales slipped 7.8 percent, its second consecutive monthly decline.

Production levels are closely-watched because U.S automakers book profits on vehicles when they are shipped from assembly plants, not on sales through the dealer.

GM has recently published plans to produce 1.28 million vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2005 and 1.25 million vehicles in the first quarter of 2006, up from 1.18 million units a year earlier.

Last week GM said it would cut 30,000 jobs and close a dozen plants in the United States and Canada. GM will sharply scale back production at its Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, resulting in some 1,500 job losses. Over 2,500 jobs will be eliminated in Oklahoma City, and 3,000 workers will lose their jobs in Doraville, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta.

Ford announced today (WSJ) it is “likely” to close five plants that employ about 7,500 workers, or about 6 percent of the company's North American workforce. The plants rumoured to shutter are in St. Louis, Atlanta and St. Paul, Minn., as well as an engine-parts plant in Windsor, Ontario, and a truck-assembly plant in Cuautitlan, Mexico.

Since 2000, more than 100,000 hourly and salaried automotive jobs have been eliminated in the US.

The downsizing of the US auto industry is producing socially catastrophic consequences , for example in in Michigan. The Detroit Free Press on Tuesday quoting Us census data said ,“Michigan’s median household income has fallen by $9,914—19 percent—between 1999 and 2004, more than any other state.”

Truck sales at Ford fell nearly 18 percent, with some of its largest SUVs such as the Expedition falling nearly 44 percent in November. Sales of Ford's popular Explorer model plunged 52 percent.

Ford cut its fourth-quarter production target by 20,000 units to 790,000 vehicles. For the first quarter of 2006, Ford plans to build 885,000 vehicles, down from the 908,000 units it produced a year earlier.

GM launched a "Red Tag" sale, in November in which anyone in the United States could buy a vehicle for the price paid by its auto parts suppliers' employees. Combined with existing rebates, the program offered a discount of more than $10,000 on some of GM's largest SUVs, a greater savings than the automaker's summer sales incentives.

Chrysler offered customers two years of free gasoline, worth close to $2,400 each. Ford offered a more complicated program offering reduced prices and rebates.

At close of business GM traded at $22.31 and Ford at $8.10.

Truck sales at Ford fell nearly 18 percent, with some of its largest SUVs such as the Expedition falling nearly 44 percent in November. Sales of Ford's popular Explorer model plunged 52 percent.

Overall vehicle sales are forecast by the industry (at a seasonally adjusted annual rate) to be about 15.7 million in November. Last year, the U.S. vehicle sales rate in November was 16.6 million.

The Financial Times reports the comments by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis in the Lebanes papers saying that the appearance of a Syrian intelligence agent on state television, recanting his testimony to the UN team, had not undermined his probe.

This followed the appearance of so called “star witness” on TV on Sunday, of Hosam Taher Hosam (pic) who alleged he had been offered money (US1.3mn) by Hariri's son to frame high-ranking Syrian officials in the February murder.

A spokesman for the Hariri family denied Hussam's statements.

"This claim is fabricated. It is a lie and it is baseless," spokesman Hani Hammoud told Hariri-owned Future Television in Beirut.

Doubts arise that investigation (already extended to December 15th ) will be completed. Ibrahim Gambari, UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, is reported as saying on Wednesday he expected the investigation to continue past December 15, but that the German prosecutor might have other commitments.

One thing is certain. He will never reveal the truth about what happened. Even Mr Fisk who scampered along the Corniche in the reeking smoke to find the battered body of Hariri and police fixing the evidence in the bomb crater , as he claims in his recent book, (The Great War For Civilization;The Conquest of the Middle East) hasn’t yet come up with any answers.

Friday 2/12 Beirut Daily Star reports, Lebanese Justice Minister Charles Rizk said after meeting Mehlis on Thursday that the investigator had told him he would not continue with the investigation if its mandate was to be extended.

Rizk noted that investigations into the February bombing could "last months even years"

German representatives said it was down to Mehlis but diplomatic gossip says he's on his way out. Syrian witnesses are due to be interviewed in Vienna next week - don't hold your breath.

Kuwait News Agency reports John Bolton asking that Mehlis departure not slow the reporting down ... apparently Reuters repoorts he said that the best replacement for Mehlis would be a clone ... you bet.

Bolton (the man who visited Judy Miller in prison) must be going truly apeshit now Bashar has effectivley neutralised the enquiry. Chirac will no doubt have an amysed smile playing baout his lips at the discomfiture of the US and telling Total to get on with the plans for that Syrian refinery.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Last month, Jean Claude Trichet , European Central Bank President, warned the FOREX markets that the ECB would raise interest rates after a long hiatus of five years to preempt incipient inflationary pressures. His comment strengthened the euro, but very briefly.

The ECB announced a 0.25% increase to its benchmark rate to 2.25 percent today.

Channel 4 new aired the video of alleged shooting traffic from a civil convoy on the Airport (Irish) route from Baghdad to the Airport.

Menzies from the Lib Dems (where the hell is Kennedy – in a home ?) said it was dreadful if true. Aegis are quoted to have set up an internal enquiry with the US forces.

Then they dragged on some muppet from the Royal United Services Institute (founded by the Duke of Wellington) , who said , well war is a nasty business and it’s very difficult these things happen , and it’s very difficult to bring anyone to justice.

Well of course it was the RUSI who organised on 8th November 2005 a one day conference in Whitehall , “Expeditionary Operations in the Modern Era, Planning for the Conflicts of Today and Tomorrow” with the following speakers. PDF alert ! HERE

Erinys International Ltd., is based in the pleasant farmhouse home of John Holmes and despite being awarded a major contract for security staff in Iraq doesn’t seem to have been able to publish any accounts since their formation in 2002. Col. Tim Collins chaired the session at which Tim Spicer spoke – then lo and behold turned up again on Channel 4 news talking about something else.

Curious camaraderie is evident, DynCorp moaned when Aegis got their monster Iraq contract , despite their deep experience in running sex slaves in Bosnia, and there is Andrew Michels happily fraternising with TimSpicer.

It must be very difficult at times to determine where private enterprise ends and the UK Military begins.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace, the principal military advisor to the president and the secretary of defense spoke about the use of white phosphorous today. Pace is the 1st Marine officer to hold the post, it was of course the Marines who took and re-took Fallujah. Pace succeeded USAF General Richard Myers who was the guy who spent the morning of September 11th 2001 shooting the breeze with Congressman McClelland whilst New York burned the Pentagon blazed across the Potomac River , apparently out of sight of TV, telephones, pagers, staff etc.,

Pace described it as a "legitimate tool of the military", used to illuminate targets and create smokescreens. "It is not a chemical weapon. It is an incendiary. And it is well within the law of war to use those weapons as they're being used, for marking and for screening," he said.

"A bullet goes through skin even faster than white phosphorus does," Gen Pace said. "So I would rather have the proper instrument applied at the proper time, as precisely as possible, to get the job done, in a way that kills as many of the bad guys as possible and does as little collateral damage as possible. "That is just the nature of warfare."

At a press conference on 26th November given by Donald Rumsfeld Pave publicly disagreed with his boss. UPI's Pam Hess asked about torture by Iraqi authorities, and Rumsfeld replied that "obviously, the United States does not have a responsibility" other than to voice disapproval. Pace interjected and said, "It is the absolute responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene, to stop it."

Rumsfeld disagreed : "I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it's to report it."

Pace stated calmly , but firmly, "If they are physically present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop it."

President Bush, has made a speech at Annapolis and launched a 32 page "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq". He has three more such speechifyings before Christmas .. the Mid West can hardly wait.

This is evidently a Power Point presentation that every lame dick, PR bullshit Beltway booster has had a hand in. Windy rhetoric and piffle. Presumably the comic book version is being worked on as we speak.

What it does say is ... shit 37% popularity rating for Dubya, 68% opposed to the Administration policy on Iraq ... this might be an Exit Strategy.... for Bush. I can see a few Glocks being worked over.

VICTORY IN IRAQ IS A VITAL U.S. INTEREST

* The war on terrorism is the defining challenge of our generation, just as the struggle against communism and fascism were challenges of the generations before. As with those earlier struggles, the United States is fully committed to meeting this challenge. We will do everything it takes to win.

Remember the Monty Python sketch "How to Do It"? It featured three perky hosts offering the vaguest possible advice. Their explanation of how to play the flute was "You blow in this end and run your fingers along these keys." And this was how to rid the world of disease: "First discover a marvelous cure for something, so that you can tell people how to get rid of disease and they'll jolly well have to pay attention."

That's what Bush's plan reminds me of. Only without that level of detail...

"...the big trouble with dumb bastards is that they are too dumb to believe there is such a thing as being smart." -- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Indian Bhikhu Patel (no relation) a Hindu, and this years Mayor of Preston (Lancs Uk) has introduced Hindu prayers instead of the traditional Christian blessing at the start of each council meeting . Now he has changed the traditional mayoral Christmas Carol Concert held in the council chamber, to an, evening of Asian and Afro-Caribbean music this year.

Choleric Councillor Ken Hudson, Leader of the opposition Conservative party in the city council, said it was "bloody ridiculous".

Mayor Patel claims a choir could not be found "I want a multicultural peace and harmony event. It will be a culturally cohesive, more inclusive event. I do not think carol singing is suitable for my mayoral year.”

Afro-Caribbean singer Katie McClelland and Asian musicians will perform at the event on Jan 7th 2006.

It is reported that the Mayor has previously been criticised for requesting that the taxpayer fund a trip for an 11-strong delegation, including members of his own family, to his home village - Navsari in Gujarat.

STOP PRESS

The Lancashire Evening Post today reveal that details of plans for a Town Hall event on December 15 after councillors gather for the final meeting of the year.Instead of the usual evening event, an hour will be set aside for carols and prayers at 12.30pm. All 57 councillors will be asked to attend, along with any members of staff. Around 15 pupils from St Stephen's CE Primary school on South Meadow Lane will lead the carols, accompanied by councillors.

Father Chris Dyckhoff from St Wilfrid's Catholic Church on Winckley Square will talk about Christmas and say some prayers.

Councillor Hudson ready with the sound bite said this was a “knee jerk” reaction. Mayor Patel expressed surprise at the reaction of Councillors to his previous plans for a multicultural event.

Meanwhile they also report the security of 1,500 jobs at the Springfield . Preston / nuclear processing plant and Heysham power station as a result of Tony Blairs Damascene conversion to nuclear power.

Hugh Sharman is an Englishman living in Denmark and is a Principal in Inteco, a Danish energy brokering and consulting outfit.

Here is a lucid and sensible document he has written, which anyone who wishes to consider the arguments about the use of wind powered electricity generation should read. (PDF Alert).

Now this month he has published an item for Proceedings of the Institute of Civil Engineering, vol 158, p. 161 (not online but available at cost of US$33 – Abstract at end of this post). In this he provides a technical analysis of the problems of power distribution where generation is in the North and West but consumption in the South and East of the UK.

Generators are paid, as it were, ex-works, passing up the opportunity to lose the 10%-20% lost in transmission. Of the proposed 11 Gigawatts to be built , some 7 Gigawatts will be generated in Scotland connected by the current single aerial 2 GW connector.

Sharman points out both the unwillingness to address the costs of bridging the gap, by politicians which will inevitably be from the public purse. Meanwhile major projects like the Isle of Lewis remain unbuilt until this problem is resolved.

Sharman , based on his deep knowledge and experience reckons 10 Gigawatts is possible.

It is therefore unsurprising that United Utilities bowed out of their interests in North West wind farms. Some time ago. Readers are also directed to the problems Vestas Wind Systems are having in producing reliable equipment posted about last week. It is evident that efficiencies (utilization) are going to be lower than expected and maintenance costs higher. Already installed costs have gone from an initial £1.15 MN per MWatt to £1.75 Mn - and the installers are losing money - and the National Lottery is also picking up 20% of the cost! Good causes indeed.Why UK wind power should not exceed 10 GW Abstract

Britain's wind power reached 1 GW in June this year, making it the eighth largest national installation in the world. Over the next 5 years a further 6 GW is likely to be built at a cost of £7 billion in the rush to meet the Government's target of 10% renewable energy by 2010. The plan is for wind energy to deliver three-quarters of the target but that, as this paper explains, would actually require 12 GW, meaning the target will not be met. Furthermore, experience in Denmark and Germany shows that the UK will find it impractical to manage much over 10 GW of unpredictable wind power without major new storage schemes or inter-connectors. The paper concludes that while wind power should be exploited as fully as possible, it must not be at the expense of renewing existing firm generating capacity.

Also see (not online) "UK wind power takes a battering" by Rowan Hooper, New Scientist 12th November Issue 2525

Commenting ahead of the expected announcement of the energy review by the Prime Minister at the CBI conference on Tuesday morning, Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, Norman Baker MP said:

"The suspicion must be that Tony Blair has already decided to advocate an increase in the use of nuclear power. This review will serve little purpose if the Prime Minister has already made up his mind.

"What is needed is to rule out an extension of nuclear power now. This will provide the certainty that the industry so desperately needs, and will allow us to focus on cleaner renewable energy."

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Richard Haass ,told the tale in the New Yorker, of meeting Condoleezza Rice July 2002 – 8 months prior to the Iraq war / invasion starting. Haass, who was then director of policy planning in the State Department, said Rice told him not to bother discussing the wisdom of confronting Iraq because, as she said, "that decision's been made. Don't waste your breath.''

Those with a good memory will remember Condoleezza Rice announced publicly in September 2002 that aluminum tubes (CNN) that Iraq was trying to acquire ``are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs,'' when she knew there were deep divisions in the intelligence community over whether that was true. ( We now know Energy Department experts, who said the tubes were for small conventional military rockets, were right.) … we won’t even mention the Winnebagos of Death.

Interestingly the CNN story mentioned above, (Headlined “Top Bush officials push case against Saddam") has a pic of Dubya’s glamourous washroom maid with the caption …” National security adviser Condoleezza Rice said President Bush hasn't made a decision yet about whether to attack Iraq.”

Just as the decision had been made to invade, the decision to begin the withdrawal has been made – they just have to sell it. President Bush starts the elevator pitch , speaking to Naval Students tomorrow.

Leaving the Dear Leader here the time and energy to sort out the accumulation of shit about Pensions, energy, education, transport, drugs, murdering policemen, qat, MRSA, MDRTB, that his fuckwit Cabinet colleagues have caused.

Already some have felt the firm hand of Cabinet Government and the caravan loving, "outdoor hiking girl, wholly to my liking girl", Mrs Beckett has decided instransigent opposition to nuclear power is not a career enhancing move, and undertaken a complete and very public U turn. The dumb , loyal but witless Energy Minister. Wicks, (Tony's 6th) has been given his instructions and will do as he is told. Watching him on Channel 4 News tonight with Jon Snow, shows how ill informed educated he is and doesn't even begin to grasp the arguments...as for Monbiot the BBC's tame tree hugger, and the Guradian's Rentagob... nuff said, he has just discovered that re-newables ( stupid New Labour phrase which never meant anything , you cannot renew energy) will not take the strain. Many years behind everyone else. He recently discovered partly thermo baric munitions which exposes his ignorance on another front.

Expect more .....Bush instructs US Iraqi Ambassador Kalilzhad to talk to Iranians

PPS Wed 30th Nov BBC News 9.00 am report that President Bush will be announcing "they're comin' home" today - so it must be true.

No doubt the US / World public will have endless pics of (live) US soldiers returning for Christmas now the Iraqis can organise their own civil strife, torture, murder, and corruption.

"I can today announce that we have established a review of the UK's progress against the medium and long-term Energy White Paper goals. The Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks will be in the lead, with the aim of publishing a policy statement on energy in the early summer of 2006. It will include specifically the issue of whether we facilitate the development of a new generation of nuclear power stations."

The first time Tony publicly discussed the issue of nuclear power was on January 30th 2005 ( almost exactly 10 months and an election away) see MediaLens here and Manchester Evening News here – from someone adept at providing Tony Blair with clear, precise, accurate information on Government Policy.

In a subsequent private discussion, Blair made it quite clear not only that UK based nuclear power was the only option available, his only concern in supporting the policy was the presentational aspect – he typically, and incorrectly assumed the questioner was in some way representing the interests of the nuclear power industry.

The UK Government is now set to endorse the installation of new nuclear power stations by mid 2006 – with the use of public fnds if necessary – after all lottery money has been awarded to wind farms, biofuel plant and the Duke of Buccleughs imortation of Austrian wood chip burning boilers – why not nuclear power plants ?

Wicks and Johnson sent in to bat for the Government on the BBC Today prgram clearly haven't got a fucking clue about the issues involved - Prezz T will just ride ( as ever) roughshod over the lot).

Once the impact of the real, raw figures and their geo-political impact and economic consequences hit the PLP there will be a Transformation scene which will make this years panto look slow.

Perhaps those shares in British Energy, in December 2003 when they stood @ 5p weren't such a bad investment after all.

I now discover Rupe's Rag the "Times" used the phrase nuclear nettle for their leader this am. Cheap alliteration on their part, clear simple, readily understood metaphor on my part.

Sir Ian Blair will address the Confederation of British Industry today about the problem of White Collar Crime according to the London Financial Times.

Have you noticed the colour of his collar ?

Perhaps the lying bastard is going to come clean about how the Met gang organised the Stockwell murder and then spent 4 days stalling the IPCC and clearing up the crime scene and getting the hymn sheets prepared ?

Will he be raising the US claims to extradite John Irving who was involved (allegedly) in siphoning off Saddam's oil under the UN / OFF scheme who has links to some very interesting people in the City and UK Military ? BBC story here. There are one or two anxious souls in the City waiting the outcome of that case, no doubt making sure their passports are in order and easily picked up.

Mike Bair, Boeing VP and general manager of the 787 program was telling me in Dubai about the selection of Panasonic as the second supplier for their X Series wireless in Flight Entertainment (IFE) for the 787. (Which will be superb and allows easy, quick cabin re-c0nfiguration).

This is of course as I reminded him, not a Boeing product but assembled in Californian from Chinese tails, Japanese fuselage wing stubs, UK de-icing, and undercarriage, Japanese toilet cabins, all carried in specially modified 747’s from Spain.

Meanwhile their program to diss the A380 continues, he tells me, trying to raise the wind about horizontal separation and take off slots - remember the bollocks about the tail fin falling off the Airbus over Rockway ? Shit, why can't they ban US overflights the way they did with Concord(e), that would really fuck the uppity "old Euro" crew.

I suggested the 787 should be designated the 787/UN because it had bits from so many nations. He took another pull on his sweetened lime soda in the cool evening quiet of the Bastakia courtyard and smiled wryly. He said something I didn't quote catch.

If IFE and a comparison of the Thales (French) wireless system with Panasonic X excites you read more here.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Attitude shifts on Iraq pullout

WASHINGTON -- Even as debate over the Iraq war rages, signs are emerging of a convergence of opinion on how the Bush administration might begin to get out of the conflict.

In a departure from past statements, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week that the training of Iraqi troops has advanced so far that the current number of U.S. forces probably will not be needed for much longer.

President Bush will give a major speech Wednesday at the U.S. Naval Academy in which aides say he is expected to proclaim the improved readiness of Iraqi troops, which he has identified as the key condition for withdrawing U.S. troops. ...More

I first researched qat in the UK in 2001 and blogged about it July 30th after the 28/7 “bombings” undertaken by Somalis (allegedly), and then again on November 22nd when it was evident that PC Plod and the daily Telegraph was beginning to make a connection. (pic qat smugglers on train from Addis to Djibouti)

Tonight Channel 4 More had an item fronted by Ethiopian, Ismail Latif in which some Somalis have been asking for a ban on use of qat in the UK (it is illegal in US and most of Europe). Of great interest was the nightly arrival at Heathrow Terminal 4 from (it was said Ethiopia – but I suspect Kenya) of large quantities – 7 tons a week was stated – the same when I first wrote about it in 2001.

Due to the rapid degeneration of the active psycho – stimulants the goods are snapped up by car drivers from as far afield as Manchester and Birmingham.

It was stated that each bunch of twigs would retail @ £3 (say US$4.50). This seems from personal reference to be the London street price, but more the further from London you get.

The Home Office refused to appear but stated that they were “examining the use of qat” and would be making a decision by the end of the year.

It will be no surprise if a connection between this trade and the 28/7 spurious “bombings” in London becomes more apparent as the defendents arrive in court…. There is also a hazy connection through Luton and local low level criminal gangs and one of the 7/7 bombers, which the above links will take you to.

Mike Grant, a senior investigator at the Independent Police Complaints Commission, (IPCC) will undertake an enquiry (Press release) into the conduct of Sir Ian Blair (pix with Jonathan Aitken's "Sword of Justice") after shooting in July of an Jean de Menezes. This is related to the family’s complaints that ``false public statements'' were made by police officials about the killing.

The investigation is separate from another into the circumstances surrounding the murder of the 27 year-old Brazilian electrician at Stockwell tube station in July.``Neither we nor Jean Charles' family want this complaint to distract us from the main task of finding out how and why Jean Charles died,'' IPCC Chair Nick Hardwick said in the statement. ``We still expect our investigation into the shooting to be completed by the end of December.''

Not wishing in any way to pre-empt the results of the enquiry, Sir Ian Blair told straightforward lies in public about the events, and furthermore obstructed and delayed the activities and investigations of the IPCC by writing to the Home Office (letter c/o BBC pdf alert Met website copy)requesting a formal delay in initiating the IPCC mandatory enquiry, required when a Police officer had shot someone dead in public, after having refused their staff access to the murder site.

Imran Patel got 4 months for fucking the News of the World about, pretending to be the 5th, "7/7 bomber", one wonders what lying about officially sanctioned murder, and obstructing the course of justice, will get Sir Ian, the mastermind from Christ Church.

On the pm BBC Radio news programme at 17.20 the Met are reported to be helping the IPCC in every way, although nothing has appeared on their website.

The Sunday Telegraph reports the online availability of a "trophy" video said to be shot by AEGIS security staff from the rear vehicle in a convoy, on the Road (Irish) to Baghdad Airport. This shows vehicles being shot at (lit up) to slow or stop and not overtake. Crashes, result with unknown consequences to drivers and passengers. No date of incidents / filming is known.

Bareknuckle politics blog has a copy which is available as a .wmv file with a tuneful Elvis Presley backing track and perhaps Irish or Scottish voices to be heard, as well as bursts of automatic fire.

It was originally shown on a site (AEGIS IRAQ PSD TEAMS) said to be run by ex (or even present AEGIS) staff. A Company run by Col. Tim Spicer(pic) who is on contract to supply security services to the US Government in a contract worth £220Mn.(US$293Mn)

The cost plus contract ensures this officer and a gent of a profit -

Ted Kennedy and 5 democratic Senators asked the Pentagon to re-consider the contract in the light of Spicer’s background. In August, they asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to review the Spicer deal. In October, the Army admitted that its contracting officer was unaware of trouble spots in Spicer's past, but it refused to reconsider the contract.

"It is significant that the British Ministry of Defense was apprised of our intention...and did not object or advise against the action. Moreover, neither Aegis nor Mr. Spicer are on the...list of parties excluded from Federal contracting," wrote Sandra Sieber, director of the Army Contracting Agency. "We therefore had no legal basis to deny the award to Aegis, which won the competition fairly based on the rules and criteria established by our solicitation."

One of Spicer's most vocal critics is the Rev. Sean McManus of the Irish National Caucus, a Washington-based lobbying group. His group has a special section on its website devoted to the contract and Spicer's previous misdeeds, at www.irishnationalcaucus.org. "Mark my words, this contract is going to come back and bite them," McManus said. "He's a dangerous fellow. And as his record in Ireland shows.... I mean, these guys don't change their spots."

It was not likely that the US Army would reconsider the contract.

The video has been removed from the original site. To give a flavour of this very interesting site these comments may be of interest to those of us not used to running the tail gate, gunshop on a PSD convoy team.

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Hi all Can someone explain to me what is all this bol'''cks with GUNSHIPS??? Since when did we turn into septic's and just cabby away at vehicles because they come TOO CLOSE?. who thought of the name GUNSHIP Mr A Murphy? I always thought that pulling the trigger was a last resort and not a jolly at people who cant shoot back.-------------Hi all Can someone explain to me what is all this bol'''cks with GUNSHIPS??? I think you mean GUN TRUCK, and if you think its a bad idea to have a belt fed and firing ports in the rear wagon i'd advise you to go out on the ground up north for a bit. and just cabby away at vehicles because they come TOO CLOSE?. Its to stop nutcases driving in and detonating up the backside of your convoy! Check the stats, back in late 2004 there was reckoned to be at least 1 suicide bomber on the BIAP every couple of days! Would i fire warning shots to keep traffic back, fucking right i would. why we no longer use intel and common sense and decent drills. please explain your "drill" that stops suicide bombers hitting your convoy? As for intel, fuck me when has Iraq ever been a "low threat" environment? Every time you roll out the wire expect the worst. Theres one drill, if it looks dodgy and its approaching at warp factor 9, hand signals - warning shots - brass the fucker into the stone age------------------You're talkin shite mate,if you deploy your LN assets correctly then it allows vehicles to pass PSD's in HAV's,without you advertising the fact that you have guns poking out of them brassing every cunt that gets too close up,it's the engaging of civvies that's causing the Iraqi Interior Ministry to begin to scrutinise the actions of certain PSD companies,and once again there plenty of High Profile Teams out there without rear gunners pissing off the local population.------------------guys, ref the video, are you surprised at this?? I mean you post this and other stuff on an unsecure site for everybody (media/terrorists etc) to see. Are you all fucking mad?? It's like the fusiliers getting their 'torture' photos developed at snappy snaps.....how daft can you get? All this plays into the hands of those that see us as mercenaries/ baby killers/ whatever. You wait for the fallout now. What the FUCK were you thinking putting it on here? I got sent it via other means, and believe me it's fast becoming the new 'Edinburgh Risk' video, ie everyone's seen it and it makes you all (and reflectively all of us in the AOR) look like cowboys. And it's a pretty bad clip lets face it (er, how many 'warning shots'??) I'm surprised the Guardian/Mirror and all the other media wankers haven't leapt on it (yet). Engage the brains guys cos EVERYONE can read these posts.... Incidentally, been doing PSD since summer '03 both high & low profile. No prizes for guessing which one I prefer...---------------------Well the shit has hit the fan. Now we get to witness the Tim Spicer tap dance routine as we did with the "Sandline Affair"....Goes to show the headshed that the guys on the ground aren't as stupid as they seem to think. Say what you wll about the shooting clips being posted on the site, nobody can say that they wouldn't do the same if they were treated as the owner of this site was a few weeks back (attempts made by the company hierachy to have him detained over a website). Well done man, fight fire with fire....paybacks a bitch ain't it London?

A spokesman for Aegis Defence Services confirmed that the company was "carrying out an internal investigation" to see if any of their employees were involved.

The Foreign Office has also confirmed that it is investigating the contents of the video in conjunction with Aegis.

Here is a useful article from the Nation about Spicer and the contract.See Anti-War piece with details of contacts to Buckingham / Heritage Oil/ Victor Bout etc.,

“Military contracts are big game. And one of the most notorious hunters is a former British soldier whose past business ventures include violating a UN arms embargo in Sierra Leone and unwittingly triggering a coup in Papua New Guinea. His name is Tim Spicer, and in March his London-based company, Aegis Defense Services, bagged a $293 million contract from the Pentagon to protect US diplomats in Iraq”.

Something else Col Collins had to share with the world - a "lost" SLR from Londonderry, Bloody Sunday, 1972 identified by its serial number – found in the possession of Sierra Leone’s murderous West Side Boys.

Just note also that Aegis co-sponsored a conference in Belfast , November 6th 2005 , where Spicer had been due to speak (but ducked) in a session on civilian/military co-operation chaired by Col Tim Collins. ... who is of course the BBC "Rentagob" on military matters in Iraq.... small world.

Then ... SNAP they both spoke at a Royal United ServicesInstitute conference in London on November 8th 2005 details here (PDF alert)

Which tells us that the military guru Spicer will speak at 15:10 hrs on Linking Civilian and Military Operations:The CMOC as a Model for the Future,Lt Col Tim Spicer OBE, Chief Executive, AEGIS Specialist Risk Management

...evidently . absolutely the right man for the job.... keeping up civilian morale etc.,

Sunday, November 27, 2005

The President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the UK met in Washington DC on April 16th 2004.

This was the day after US defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, at a Pentagon briefing referred to Al Jazeera’s reports that the US assault on Fallujah was terrorising citizens and said the news station was broadcasting , “vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable” reports about the all out assault on the City of Minarets. “They are simply lying”, he is reported as saying.

As a result of the meeting a 5/6 (?) page document was prepared by UK Civil Servants, ( No 10 / FO ) which is presumably a standard procedure, as a record of any meeting of Heads of State.

This document apparently “arrived on the desk” of (now ex) Northampton MP Tony Clarke. He apparently discussed this with Peter Kilfoyle Labour MP and ex Minister of defence under Blair. Peter Kilfoyle claims the document discusses the assault on Fallujah and has raised two early day motions (House of Commons devices which seek supporters prior to debate / discussion in the House) to ask for the document to be published.

Kilfoyle is quoted in the Sunday Times today ...

"My concern is that the only conspiracy surrounding this was a conspiracy to level Fallujah," said Mr Kilfoyle. "He [Mr Blair] would say 'conspiracy theory'. That's been the American line and now he's adopting it. But if it is so fantastical, why are they prosecuting these two people this week?"

David Keogh 49, a Cabinet Office official, has been charged under the Official Secrets Act with passing the memo to Leo O'Connor, Mr Tom Clarke's former researcher. Both men are due to appear at Bow Street magistrates' court in London this week.The Attorney General acting, “quite independently” has reminded Uk newspaper editors that publication of the contents of such a memo would be an offence under section 5 of the Official Secrets Act.

Tony Blair in Malta is quoted in the Sunday Telegraph today, (having refused a request from the managing director of al-Jazeera, Wadah Khanfar, for a meeting) seeking a lawerly refuge …

"Look, there's a limit to what I can say - it's all sub judice," he said. "But honestly, I mean, conspiracy theories…"

Last Tuesday Scott Mclellan the POTUS pooper scooper said, “

"We are not going to dignify something so outlandish and inconceivable with a response.”

Scaryduck gives details of the meeting last night Monday Nov 29th at the Frontline Club with Maguire of the Mirror, Al Jazeera MD and 2 penny chew looking Martin Bell discussing the memo. Doesn't seem to be reported in the MSM although there were hacks present.